Common Sales

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

A man goes to a buy a new car. There are literally dozens of the same make and model he wants on the lot. There are even more at the dealership down the street.

And yet when it comes time to buy, he feels extreme urgency to buy the car he test-drove. Somehow, he feels that if he doesn’t buy, he will miss his chance.

Why does this happen?

After all, the man could walk right out of the dealership and drive to another one a few miles away and find the same make and model with the same color and options. According to the Consumer Reports Buying Guide 2009:

A salesperson might tell you that someone else is very interested in the same car and is coming by later — a common sales tactic. You should never feel that you have to make any deal immediately. There are always other cars out there.

Consumer Reports is 100% right: There are always other cars out there. So the issue is not true scarcity because the car our imaginary man wants is not scarce.

Yet he feels as if the car is scarce.

And he is practically compelled to sign the papers as soon as he can to avoid missing out.

Let me tell you why this strange phenomenon happens and how you can create a similar urgency for your own products…